Open eBook Forum Updates Industry Specification

Open eBook Forum Updates Industry Specification

Article excerpt

The Open eBook Forum (OeBF) has released an updated version of the Open eBook Publication Structure (OEBPS) specification. Entitled "Publication Structure Specification 1.0.1," the new industry standard for authoring reusable content for e-book devices and readers supersedes version 1.0 of the OEB Specification. The OEBPS is an XML-based specification for the content, structure, and presentation of electronic books.

"The OEB Specification provides a single common format for authors, editors, publishers, and content owners who want their titles to be readable by a variety of electronic publishing systems and reading devices," said Bob Bruce, the OeBF's executive director. "It has been widely adopted by many of the major e-book publishers and software manufacturers as the underlying interchange format supporting a variety of e-book reading devices."

Version 1.0.1 of OEBPS, which is based on more than a year of industry experience with 1.0, doesn't add additional features to the specification but removes ambiguities and corrects errors. Version 2.0 of OEBPS, which will introduce new features and substantial enhancements--particularly in the areas of presentation, linking and navigation, internationalization, and metadata--is currently under development. …